Posted March 02, 2014
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The fact is Americans always have to have an enemy. Americans always have to hate on some foreign "evil": the Russians, or the Muslims, or the illegal Mexicans, or Chinese. Americans also have very limited attention span, so they can only focus on hating one particular enemy at a time. Just before 9/11 happened, China - and Chinese by association - were the target for American jingoism. The US media was hating on China. Everyone in America (the white majority) was bashing China. Chinese in American -- even Chinese who were born outside China and had never been to China -- often felt under siege. I often had to pretend to be Korean so I did not have to deal with the hostility and suspicions, (and because my last name is "Chong", which could also be a Korean last name, so I could get away with telling people that I was Korean.)
On 9/11 when Muslim terrorists flew a plane into the Twin Towers, I actually felt... relief. I immediately knew Americans would redirect all their hatred towards Muslims and Arabs, which was good for me. That meant Americans would be too busy hating on Muslims/Arabs to be bothered with with China/Chinese. And I was correct. For years, America has focused their hatred and hostility towards Muslims and Arabs, and they have mostly left Chinese alone. However, in the past two to three years, America has started shifting its attention back to China again. Which has really made me feel uneasy.
Now that Russians will become America's enemy no. 1 again, I feel like Chinese in America have dodged another bullet. So yippie for me. It will suck to be "Ruskies" in America, but that won't be my problem. Hey, as long as it's not me.
Post edited March 02, 2014 by monkeydelarge